In remarks officially dubbed "How's It Going? The Truth About the H/DTV Transition," engineering consultant-author-educator Mark Schubin will address the PBS Technology Conference preceding the NAB show in Las Vegas on April 15. He will, among other things, ask if these statements are really true;
- Digital television means higher quality.
- Consumers demand HDTV.
- Sales of digital TVs are skyrocketing.
Schubin also plans to pose and answer other DTV queries where fact and conventional wisdom may not always agree. He'll offer his perspective about how these so-called "truths" are affecting learning and H/DTV decision-making by engineers at the NAB show.
Incidentally, with lawmaker education in mind, Schubin recently sent a letter to some key members of Congress that he told us was "intended to keep Congress from enacting legislation that doesn't do what they want it to do, as, apparently, was the case in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, which already has a hard cut-off date [for analog]." The current cut-off date remains one second prior to the stroke of midnight, Jan. 1, 2007.
Regarding any new legislation aimed at extending the cut-off date (Mark does not support or oppose this in the letter), some of his key education points include:
- Reception circuitry is not the same as "capable of receiving."
- Reliable "converters" are not yet available to the public.
- The FCC takes a long time to study things.
- There are more viewing places involved than number of "TV households."
(HD Notebook likes the third point the best.)
